News - 4 flight attendants make millions of dollars from drug smuggling

Four flight attendants have been charged in connection with a yearslong scheme to smuggle "millions of dollars of drug money" from New York to the Dominican Republic on commercial flights, US federal authorities said, reports Business Insider. The flight attendants—Charlie Hernandez, 42; Sarah Valerio Pujols, 24; Emmanuel Torres, 34; and Jarol Fabio, 35—were all arrested on various charges, including the operation of an unlicensed money transmission business. According to a pair of federal indictments unsealed by the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, all of the defendants held "Known Crewmember" status with the Transportation Security Administration. Using this status, they could access a special security lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport without undergoing typical passenger screening procedures. By "abusing their privileges as airline employees," the flight attendants managed to transport about $8 million in "bulk cash" from the US to the Dominican Republic over several years, US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. The indictments said the smuggling occurred from at least 2014 until as late as 2023.